International Lawyers Project

We support and defend independent investigative journalists and their sources and collaborators in civil society or government worldwide who are engaged in exposing corruption, and financial and environmental crimes - filling a key gap in civil society and journalistic efforts in accessing and utilising legal analysis and remedies to increase transparency, accountability, and good governance

• Securing emergency representation for a Pakistani media outlet exposing high level corruption and laundering of 160 million pounds in the UK though the purchase of London real estate by a powerful mafia baron threatening to shut down the newspaper and pursue damages against its investigative reporters.

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• ILP supported the initiative of the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC) to ensure the safety of journalists who investigate financial crimes in the UK by providing pre-publication libel review on FPC’s two reports that shed light on the use of the law to close down the media (via SLAPP suits and libel tourism) in the UK and recommend ways in which investigative journalists can be better protected.

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• The reports have revealed the increasing number of attacks against investigative journalists and the lack of procedural guarantees in the UK legal system which have allowed London to become a hub for these kinds of threats and libel suits. The survey was conducted with the support of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN). ILP has been asked to form an expert committee to continue to review these issues.